THE EARLY NORTHWEST 




Address bekork the American Historical Association, in 
Washington, December 26, 1888 



BY the president 

WILLIAM FREDERICK POOLE, LL.D. 

LIBRARIAN OF THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY, CHICAGO 



[Reprinted from the Papers of the Association] 



NEW YORK 

Cbc Unickerbocher press 
1889 



\ 



With the Compliments of 

W. F. POOLE. 




THE 



EARLY NORTHWEST 



AN ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE 



AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

AT ITS FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING, WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 26, I? 



BY THE PRESIDENT 



WILLIAM FREDERICK POOLE, LL.D. 

LIBRARIAN OF THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY, CHICAGO 



[Reprinted from the papers of the Association] 



NEW YORK 

1889 






COPYRIGHT BY 

AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 



Press of 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York 



THE EARLY NORTHWEST. 

By William F. Poole, LL.D., President of the Association. 

It was the intention of the committee having the matter 
in charge to select, as the place of this meeting, some city 
in the Northwestern States, in view of the fact that this is 
the centennial year of the English settlement of that terri- 
tory. Columbus, Ohio, was therefore chosen, and an early 
date in September was named. The preoccupation of 
Columbus at that date by centennial celebrations, army 
reunions, and political assemblies made it advisable to 
change the place of meeting to Washington, and the time 
to this later date. It was understood, however, that the 
scheme of topics originally proposed, in which, under the 
circumstances, the Northwest was likely to have a promi- 
nent place, would not be changed. 

It is apparent to every intelligent observer that there is 
in our country an increasing interest in historical studies^ 
and especially in the study of Western history. Perhaps 
the most marked indication of the fact is the number of 
young and scholarly persons who are turning their attention 
to the subject, and are writing monographs which are 
models of literary taste and of exhaustive historical re- 
search. The introduction into our leading universities of 
the method of studying history from original sources, and 
the appointment of trained and accomplished professors to 
superintend these studies, have done much to create and 
develop this awakened interest in history. At all events, 
the generous enlargement of the college curriculum and 
the production of such papers as have appeared in the 
" Historical and Political-Science Studies of the Johns Hop- 

3 



4 The Early Northwest. 

kins University," give emphasis to the fact that the fashion 
of writing American history which the public once seemed 
to enjoy — in which preconceived opinions, tradition, the 
imagination, and old text-books were served up with much 
rhetoric and fine writing, — has passed away. 

The leading purpose of the historical student of our time 
is to ascertain what is the truth, and, having found it, to 
express it clearly, concisely, and fearlessly. Following his 
inquiries back to original sources, he is often amazed that 
so much of what has passed current as history and been 
copied from one writer to another, is erroneous. The best 
results of thorough and accurate investigation and scholar- 
ship have not yet been embodied in the general works 
known as " Histories of the United States." They are in 
special treatises, in monographs, and in the publications of 
historical societies and printing clubs. A " History of the 
United States " prepared on the principles which are taught 
in the historical departments of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, of Cornell University and the University of Michi- 
gan, is the desideratum of our time. The materials for 
such a history are abundant and available, and the refer- 
ences to them in works like President Adams's " Manual of 
History" and Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History" 
will aid the student in his search for truth. 

Such a history as we are considering will recognize the 
fact that a large and important portion of our common 
country lies west of the Alleghany Mountains, and that it 
has a varied, romantic, and entertaining record of its own, 
quite unlike that of the Eastern States. The general his- 
tories of the United States have been written by Eastern 
men, and few of their writers have been tall enough to look 
over the Appalachian range and see what has happened on 
the other side. The story of the Revolutionary War has 
often been told without a mention of the campaigns of 
George Rogers Clark, who, as a Virginia partisan and with an 
intelligence and valor which have not been surpassed in an- 
cient or modern warfare,captured from the British the North- 
western Territory, and holding it until the peace of 1783, 



The Early Northwest. 5 

secured to this Nation the Mississippi River and the great 
lakes as boundaries/ The Ordinance of 1787, if any men- 
tion be made of it, has often been despatched in about five 
lines. "The glory of the Northwest," said Senator Hoar, 
in his recent oration at Marietta, " is the Ordinance of 1787. 
It belongs with the Declaration of Independence and the 
Constitution. It is one of the three title-deeds of American 
constitutional liberty." 

The Northwest has had its own annalists ; the earliest 
being honest, unlettered men, who, without books or 
authentic documents, mingled much which was traditional 
and inaccurate with their otherwise truthful narratives. 
Nevertheless, such rough annals as Doddridge's Notes, 
Withers's Border Warfare, and Gov. Reynolds's " Pioneer 
History" and "My Own Times," cannot be spared. 
Scarcely any books of Northwestern origin and imprint 
appeared until the second quarter of the present century. 
Within this period, or earlier, several educated men came 
from the East and gave their attention to Western history : 
Caleb Atwater, Timothy Flint, James Hall, Jacob Burnet, 
Samuel P. Hildreth, James H. Perkins, and a few others. 

It is not my intention to give a list of the early books on 
the Northwest, and much less of the later publications, 
which are many and valuable. My purpose is : 

1 " 3. That, if a right to the said territory depended on the conquests of the 
British posts within it, the United Stales have already ... by the success of 
their arms obtained possession of all the important posts and settlements on the 
Illinois and Wabash, rescued the inhabitants from British domination, and 
established civil government in its proper form over them." (Instructions of 
Congress to Mr. Jay, October, 17S0, Secret Journals of Congress, II., 329.) 

" From a full confidence that the Western territory now contended for lay 
within the United States, the British posts therein have been reduced by our 
citizens, and American government is now exercised within the same." (Report 
written by Mr. Madison entitled " Facts and Observations in support of the 
several Claims of the United States," Secret Journals of Congress, August, 
1782, III., 199. N. Y. Hist. Collec, 1878, p. 139.) 

" He [Vergennes] intended to resist the claim which the colonies had invari- 
ably advanced of pushing their frontiers as far west as the Mississippi, . . . 
and to leave the country north of the Ohio to England, as arranged by the 
Quebec Act of 1774." (Fitzmaurice's " Life of Earl Shelburne," II., 169.) 



6 TJie Early Northwest. 

1. To suggest some points in Northwestern history which 
need to be investigated. 

2. To consider the sources of, and facilities for, such inves- 
tigation and how they may be improved. 

For more than a century after the Northwest had been 
traversed by French explorers and traders, its history per- 
tained to that of Canada. The voluminous writings of 
those explorers have been studied by many historians, but 
by none so thoroughly and critically as by Mr. Parkman ; 
and the results are embodied in his charming series of 
books. His writings, scholarly, picturesque, and entertain- 
ing as they are, have not exhausted this field of research. 
On the other hand, they have imparted a new interest to 
the original authorities. The narratives of Champlain, 
Lescarbot, La Salle, Marquette, Tonty, and Hennepin, and 
the Relations of the Jesuits, were never read with so much 
interest as now, and they furnish abundant themes for 
fresh research. 

How La Salle busied himself during the years 1669 and 
1670, where he traveled, what he saw, and whether he then 
discovered the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, are questions 
still unsettled. There are early but questionable statements 
that he discovered the Mississippi river three years before 
it was seen by Joliet and Marquette, who supposed that 
they were the discoverers. He may have found the Ohio 
river, and followed it down to the falls at Louisville ; but 
it is not probable that he reached the Mississippi river. 
The student will be fortunate who will clear up these uncer 
tainties. 

The name of Father Louis Hennepin has been clouded 
with the charge that he was a dreadful liar. Mr. Parkman 
has expressed the current opinion of him by saying : 
" His books have their value with all their enormous fabri- 
cations. Could he have contented himself with telling the 
truth, his name would have stood high as a bold and vigor- 
ous discoverer." 

Father Hennepin's character in no other respect has been 
impeached ; and while in America he bore the reputation 



The Early Northwest. 7 

of a fearless, circumspect, and self-denying priest. When 
stationed in Canada he would start out in the depth of 
winter with a little chapel service on his back, and travel 
twenty or thirty leagues on snow-shoes, that he might bap- 
tize dying Indians and harden himself for his rough pioneer . 
work. With two companions he explored, in 1680, the 
Mississippi river north from the mouth of the Illinois river, 
discovered and named the Falls of St. Anthony, and wrote 
the earliest book of travels in the Northwest. The general 
truthfulness of this book has never been questioned ; and 
its popularity has exceeded that of all other contemporary 
publications relating to North America. May there not be 
some mistake in the severe judgment which has been 
passed upon the character of Father Hennepin ? That 
there were falsehoods and frauds in later publications which 
bore his name is true ; but what part of the culpability of 
those frauds, if any, rests upon him, is a question which 
needs a new and careful investigation. 

He went back to France in 168 1 or 1682, and never re- 
turned to America. He brought out his " Description de 
la Louisiane " in 1683. The book was translated into Ger- 
man, Dutch, and Italian, and six editions appeared during 
the next six years. No English translation, however, ap- 
peared until six years ago. English readers have therefore 
taken their views of Father Hennepin from the later pub- 
lications, of which there were English translations, and of 
which I am about to speak. 

If Father Hennepin's book-making had stopped in 1683, 
and, doubtless, if he had kept clear of unscrupulous book 
publishers, no charge of mendacity would have been 
brought against him. All his troubles and bad reputation 
grew out of the publication of two later books — the " Nou- 
velle Decouverte," at Utrecht, in 1697, and the " Nouveau 
Voyage," at Utrecht, in 1698. The popularity of these 
two books exceeded that of the first publication. Of the 
former, eighteen editions appeared— eight in French, six in 
Dutch, two in German, and one in English. Of the latter, 
ten editions were issued, making in all thirty-five editions 



8 The Early Northwest. 

of the three books which bore his name as author. The 
matter of the second book, the fraudulent portions ex- 
cepted, was substantially the same as that of " Description 
of Louisiana," of 1683 ; but it was re-written, enlarged by 
narratives stolen from other writers, and amplified by fraud- 
ulent claims and absurd errors which no person who had 
visited the country would make. 

The most idiotic claim in the edition of 1697 was, that 
the alleged writer, before ascending the Mississippi to the 
Falls of St. Anthony, descended the river to its mouth. 
For a description of the voyage there was inserted the 
pilfered details of one made by La Salle in 1681, written up 
by Father Membr^, and printed in Le Clercq's " Etablisse- 
ment de la Foi," in 1692. A voyage of 3,260 miles, half of 
it against the current, was a physical impossibility during 
the thirty days assigned to it. The fraud was detected in 
Europe as soon as the book appeared, and was a sort of 
mendacity which a person who was ignorant of the country 
would be likely to indulge in. In his first book, Hennepin 
spoke truthfully, and only of his voyage to the North. 

The historical method of assigning responsibility is the 
charitable one of requiring evidence which has the sem- 
blance of proof ; and especially when, as in this case, the 
probabilities of innocence are greater than those of guilt. 
Dr. Shea, in the preface of his translation of Hennepin's 
" Description of Louisiana," shows a strong presumption 
that Father Hennepin was not responsible for the fraud- 
ulent features of the two later publications. 

Thirteen years after the issue of his first book, during 
which period he performed honorable clerical service, Hen- 
nepin proposed to issue another publication, in substance a 
second edition of his first book ; and he prepared for it a 
personal account of his experiences since he returned from 
America, and some incidents in, and illustrations of, his 
Western travels not contained in his first publication. 
Whether the rewriting of the narrative, or of any part of 
it, was done by him is uncertain, and, on the whole, not 
probable. The earlier portion, by whomsoever rewritten^ 



TJie Early Northwest. g 

was well done. Mr. Parkman says of it : " Fortunately, 
there are tests by which the earlier parts of his book can be 
tried ; and, on the whole, they square exceedingly well 
with contemporary records of undoubted authenticity." In 
other words, the earlier parts of the book follow closely the 
narrative of the first publication. The fraudulent chapters 
come in later. 

Hennepin sought for a publisher at Amsterdam, but 
without success. At this time, having suffered persecution 
from the French government which he ascribed to the 
enmity of La Salle, he had gained the friendship of William 
III. of England, and desired to return to his mission work in 
America under English auspices. He then applied to Wil- 
liam Broedelet, bookseller, of Utrecht, with more success. 

We know nothing of his arrangements with Broedelet ; 
but the publisher probably took in the situation — that Hen- 
nepin was desperately in need of a publisher. Reprinting 
a book which had passed through seven editions was not 
a promising venture, even with some manuscript additions 
by its author, several pictorial illustrations and a new title- 
page. Could it not be re-written by another hand, enriched 
by other narratives, and all appear as the work of Father 
Louis Hennepin, the most popular annalist of the time on 
American affairs? Such thoughts may have occurred to the 
mind of the thrifty publisher. The priest was unversed in 
the pit-falls of the book trade ; and with a liberal sum of 
money in hand was likely to sign any contract tendered him. 
If a contract between Father Louis Hennepin, Recollect 
missionary, and William Boedelet, bookseller, of Utrecht, 
Holland, could be found, it would doubtless prove to be 
that sort of a contract in which every right is given to the 
party of the second part, and nothing to the party of the 
first part. The race of merciless and unscrupulous book 
publishers, who have disappeared in our day, flourished two 
centuries ago. 

Whatever might have been the terms of the agreement 
between Father Hennepin and his publisher, the book itself 
shows that it was tampered with after it was printed, by the 



lO The Early Northwest. 

insertion of foreign matter printed on different type and in 
another oflfice, which caused a duplication of the paging. 

Some historians have made the further charge against 
Hennepin, that his first book was a plagiarism of a manu- 
script, " Relation des Decouvertes," compiled from La 
Salle's letters. The explanation of this charge is simple. 
La Salle took Father Hennepin with him on his Western 
journey of exploration, in 1680, as his scribe and annalist. 
In the reports of the exploration which he sent home to 
France he embodied, as his own, the narrative written by 
his subordinate, as he had a right to do. The subordinate 
also had the right later to print his own narrative. That 
Hennepin was the writer, in instances where the two narra- 
tives are the same, appears from the fact that they describe 
events and side-excursions when La Salle was not present 
and Hennepin was.' 

The different orders of the clergy in Canada were then in 
constant quarrels. Hennepin, a Recollect, had no favor in 
the eyes of Jesuits. La Salle hated the Jesuits, and had 
the propensity to wrangle with and make himself obnoxious 
to everybody except his savage retinue. His letters and 
those of the clergy abound in charges of falsehood and 
trickery, in backbiting and all uncharitableness. Hennepin 
did not escape this fusilade of personal bickering ; and yet 
his own narrative, as first published, is singularly free from 
reflections upon the conduct of others. 

To some young and enthusiastic investigator, the literary 
and personal history of Father Hennepin will afford an 

' The third publication bearing the name of Father Hennepin, the " Nou- 
veau Voyage," printed at Utrecht, in 1698, is made up from Father Le Clercq's 
book,, and the " Manners and Mode of Life of the Indians" contained in 
Hennepin's first publication. It has a most extraordinary preface which 
scores the critics of Hennepin's second book without mercy. It defends the 
truthfulness of Hennepin's alleged voyage down the Mississippi, asserting that 
the distance was only three hundred leagues, and that the voyage could easily 
be made in thirty days. It also states that the account of La Salle's voyage, 
printed by Le Clercq, was stolen largely from a manuscript copy of Henne- 
pin's description, which he (Hennepin) left with Father Le Roux at Quebec. 
There were liars in those days. If Hennepin was the writer of this preface, a 
defense of his reputation is hopeless. 



The Early Northwest. II 

excellent subject for study. The date of his death is not 
known, and the record of his life subsequent to the publi- 
cation of the books which bear his name is a blank. It is 
not probable that he will prove to be a saint, for he was 
vain and ambitious, claiming for himself more importance 
in the expedition than his humble position of scribe and 
priest entitle him to ; but it is not probable that he deserves 
the character assigned to him by modern historians — that 
of an idiot in deception and a monster in mendacity. 

Of the French " Company of the West," organized in 
1717, as a part of the financial scheme of John Law, we 
know but little, and need to know more. It brought into 
the Illinois country, under M. Pierre du Boisbriant, a large 
immigration of mechanics and laborers from France, of 
negroes from St. Domingo, some soldiers, and several mili- 
tary engineers. Agriculture after European methods was 
introduced, the lead mines were opened, and Fort Chartres 
was built, first of wood and then of cut-stone, making it the 
best-constructed and strongest fortification on the conti- 
nent. Its ruins, once on the banks of the Mississippi, and 
now, from a change in the bed of the river, a mile away, 
inspire amazement that such a fort should have been built 
at that time and in such a place. It covered an area of four 
acres, and the nine buildings it inclosed were also of cut- 
stone, with windows furnished with iron shutters, hinges, 
and sashes.' The annals of Fort Chartres and its early 
surroundings will furnish another interesting subject for 
study. 

The social condition of the early French and Canadian 
settlers in the Illinois country is by some writers repre- 
sented to be of Arcadian simplicity and innocence. Other 
writers give them a very different character. It would be 
well if we knew more of their actual social condition. 

We have no life of George Rogers Clark, or full history 
of the stirring events in which he was an actor. The notices 

' New York Colonial Docs., X., 1162. 



12 The Early Northwest. 

of his life which have appeared in print are full of inaccura- 
cies. His own manuscripts and much other material con^ 
cerning his life are in the possession of an eminent student 
of Western history residing at Madison, Wis. The " Calen- 
dar of Virginia State Papers," and " Haldimand Collection " 
at Ottawa, bring out many facts supplementing his own 
printed reports. In the " Haldimand Collection " is the oflfi- 
cial report of Henry Hamilton, Governor of Detroit, on his 
campaign and his capture by Col. Clark at Vincennes, Ind., 
in 1779. This report gives us, from the British standpoint, 
the facts we have needed concerning that important event. 
On the whole it confirms the accuracy of Clark's several 
naratives. Clark regarded Hamilton as responsible for the 
inhumanities committed upon the Western settlers by the 
Indian scalping parties sent out from Detroit ; and hence 
Clark called him " the Hair-buying General," and treated 
him with great severity. The governor and council of 
Virginia held similar views of Hamilton, and treated him in 
like manner during the two years he was their prisoner. 
Hamilton in his report defends himself from the charge. 
He admits that he sent out the Indian parties ; but states 
that he was very careful to give the savages instructions not 
to scalp their captives ; and he was confident that they obeyed 
his instructions, because some prisoners were brought in. 
He states that he engaged in this sort of warfare with great 
reluctance, and then only on Lord George Germain's posi- 
tive instructions.' 

The story of the butcheries practised upon the Western 
settlements, during the Revolutionary war, by Indian scout- 
ing parties sent out from Detroit, can hardly be exaggerated. 
To avenge these inhumanities was a leading motive of Clark 
and his men in making that winter campaign against the 
" Hair-buying General" at Vincennes. The policy of the 
British government in its conduct of the war in the West is 
a subject which will repay investigation ; and Gov. Hamil- 
ton's defense and his scheme of giving wild savages Sunday- 

' The report of Gov. Hamilton is printed in Michigan Pioneer Collections, 
IX., pp. 489-516. 



The Early Northwest. 13 

school instruction in the humanities, can then be considered. 
What those many gross of " red-handled scalping-knives " ' 
were for, which regularly appeared in the ofificial requi- 
sitions of merchandise wanted at Detroit, can then be ex- 
plained. 

For nearly a century the origin and history of the Ordi- 
nance of 1787 were veiled in obscurity, and the most con- 
flicting statements were made concerning them. During 
the past twelve years the tangled threads have been un- 
raveled, and the subject has been a prominent theme with 
all general writers on the Northwest. The main facts 
concerning it are now well established— that it was drafted 
as a part of the scheme devised by the Ohio Company of 
Associates, formed in Massachusetts, for buying and settling 
a large tract of land in Ohio on the Muskingum river ; and 
that it was enacted by the unanimous vote of Congress in 
furtherance of that scheme. As Dr. Manasseh Cutler was 
the director of the company, who, with a sagacity and 
ability unsurpassed, conducted this business before Con- 
gress, and made the land purchase, the main credit of the 
enactment of the Ordinance and of its beneficent results 
have been generally awarded to him. He was entitled to 
great praise ; but to his associate directors, Gen. Rufus 
Putnam and Samuel Holden Parsons, and to prominent 
members of Congress— a majority of them Southern mem- 
bers—a large share of the honor is due. The authorship of 
the Ordinance has been earnestly discussed by some of the 
recent writers, and they have attempted to fix it upon some 
individual. No one, I think, in the present state of the 
investigations, can be regarded as its author. It came from 
a committee, and what occurred in the sessions of that com- 
mittee is not known. The scribe of the committee was 
Nathan Dane, and if the manuscript of the final draft, 
which is now lost, could be found, it would probably appear 
in his handwriting. The manuscript of the sixth article of 
compact— the article prohibit ing slavery in the Northwestern 

1 Farmer's " History of Detroit," pp. 246, 247. 



14 The Early Northwest. 

Territory and States — is extant, and is in his handwriting. 
Mr. Webster asserted, in 1830, that Mr, Dane was the 
author of the ordinance. Mr. Dane in a letter to Rufus 
King, written three days after its passage, stated that he 
" drew it " ; and on four occasions ' from thirty-seven to 
forty-four years later, when all the persons associated with 
him in 1787 had passed away, and his memory had failed, 
claimed for himself the whole credit of the Ordinance. On 
this statement it is easy to assume that Mr. Dane was its 
author. Other facts, however, are not in harmony with this 
conclusion. 

The handwriting of the committee's draft would not show 
the authorship of the Ordinance, or of the principles and 
measures contained in it. The draft, under instructions, 
might have been written by a clerk ; and the main features 
may have originated with any member of the committee, 
or been furnished from some outside source. Mr. Dane's 
record does not favor the theory that the Ordinance was his. 

As a Massachusetts delegate he was not in sympathy 
with the scheme of Western settlement, and was not in 
intimate relations with the promoters of the Ohio Com- 
pany, although they were Massachusetts men. The 
directors expected nothing from the Massachusetts dele- 
gates, and worked independently of them. Gen. Rufus 
Putnam, writing to Gen. Washington (who gave the Ohio 
Company his earnest support), said that he could not bring 
these matters to the notice of the Massachusetts delegates, 
as they had lands of their own for sale ; "and I dare not," 
he adds, " trust myself with any of the New York delegates 
with whom I am acquainted, because that government is 
wisely inviting the Eastern people to settle in that 
State." ^ The directors of the company looked to Virginia 
and the Southern States for the support they needed, and 

' In his "Abridgment of Am. Law," 1824. VII., pp. 389, 390 ; IX. (1830), 
Appendix pp. 74-76 ; in letter to Daniel Webster, March 26, 1 830, Mass. Hist, 
Soc. Proceedings, 1867-69, p. 475 ; and in letter to Indiana Hist. Soc, May 
12, 1831, printed in New York Tribune, June 18, 1875. 

' Life of Dr. Cutler, I., p. 176. 



The Early Northwest. 1 5 

there they found it. Mr. Dane was the delegate from Dr. 
Cutler's own district in Massachusetts, and was born in the 
parish where Dr. Cutler preached ; but the Doctor did not 
take him into his confidence. When preparing for his visit 
to Congress, he looked elsewhere for introductions, and 
procured letters from Gov. Bowdoin, President Willard, of 
Harvard College, and other personal friends. Six days 
after the enactment of the Ordinance, and while the land 
purchase was under consideration, the Doctor made in his 
journal an inventory of his supporters among the delegates 
in Congress, and of those from whom he expected op- 
position. In the list appears this sentence: " Holton " 
(who was a delegate from his own county in Massa- 
chusetts), " Holton, I think, can be trusted. Dane must 
be carefully watched, notwithstanding his professions." ' 

The subject of an Ordinance for the Northwestern Terri- 
tory had been before Congress for more than three years, 
had been much debated, and many schemes proposed had 
failed. On September 19, 1786, Mr. Dane was placed on a 
committee to draft such an ordinance. Here was the 
opportunity for him to have won such renown as an or- 
dinance-maker as would be unquestioned. The committee 
reported April 26, 1787 an ordinance which had no prohi- 
bition of slavery, no articles of compact, nor any of the 
provisions which have made the Ordinance of 1787 so 
memorable. The draft of April 26th probably embodied 
Mr. Dane's opinions and policy at that time. It took its 
first and second readings, and was before Congress for its 
third reading and enactment when Dr. Cutler arrived in 
New York oi) the afternoon of Thursday, July 5th. On 
Friday, July 6th, Dr. Cutler began his work ; and by the 
following Friday, July 1 3th, the draft of April 26th had been 
laid aside ; another committee had been chosen to prepare a 
new Ordinance ; the committee had reported ; the new draft 
had taken its three readings on three successive days, and 
had been enacted by the unanimous vote of all the States. 
Such rapidity of action arrests attention, and demands an 

' Life of Dr. Cutler, I., p. 294. 



1 6 The Early Northwest. 

explanation. It is not only unique in the annals of American 
legislation, but the Ordinance enacted was radically unlike 
any of the drafts which had preceded it, and had a foresight 
and political sagacity which has challenged the admiration 
of statesmen, and yielded the most beneficent results. 

Is it possible that the new Ordinance was devised and 
drafted in about one day, — on the refined and compli- 
cated plan so elaborately explained by him many years 
later, — by one who had shown such indifference to, and lack 
of knowledge on, the subject, as had Mr. Dane ? In his letter 
to Rufus King, written three days later, while stating that 
he " drew it," he spoke of it apologetically as a piece of 
patchwork hastily got up. Its statesmanship, of which 
nearly a half century later he was so proud, he was then 
wholly unconscious of. Dr. Cutler might have told us in 
his journal how this rapid action came about, and who was 
especially entitled to the credit ; but he did not, and the 
facts have not come to light from any other source. The 
new committee to prepare the Ordinance was appointed on 
Monday, July 9th, and the sessions began at ii o'clock, 
A.M. On Tuesday the draft was so far completed that it 
was referred to Dr. Cutler for amendments, and was re- 
turned by him to the committee in the afternoon. On 
Wednesday it was reported to Congress and printed with- 
out the anti-slavery article. On Thursday it took its second 
reading, was amended, and the sixth article prohibiting 
slavery restored ; and on Friday, July 13th, it took its third 
reading, and was enacted. 

Dr. Cutler's journal accounts for every moment of his 
time after he had arrived in New York, and shows that he 
could not have drafted the Ordinance there. On Sunday, 
the only day of leisure he had, he attended divine service 
three times, dined with Sir John Temple, the British Consul- 
General, in company with other guests, ate a heavy English 
dinner, and took tea with Ebenezer Hazard, the Treasurer 
of Congress. On Monday and Tuesday, however, he had 
three conferences with " the committee," just before, and 
while the final draft was in consideration. His record on 



The Early Northwest. 1 7 

Monday is: "Attended the committee before Congress 
opened, and then spent the remainder of the forenoon with 
Mr. Hutchins," ' the Geographer of the United States. The 
committee on the Ordinance was not appointed until later 
on the same day. "The committee" of which he speaks 
must, therefore, have been the committee on the land 
purchase, appointed May 9th (on the petition then presented 
by Gen. Parsons), and consisting of Mr. Carrington and Mr. 
Madison of Virginia, Mr. King and Mr. Dane of Massa- 
chusetts, and Mr. Benson of New York. Three of these 
gentlemen, on July 9th, were not in the city, and hence 
there was no quorum. Mr. Madison and Mr. King were 
members of the Constitutional Convention then in session 
at Philadelphia, and Mr. Benson was not present at any 
session of Congress after May loth, during the year. Mr. 
Carrington and Mr. Dane, the remaining members, were a 
quorum for conversation, if not for business ; and, with 
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, Mr. Kean of South Caro- 
lina, and Melancthon Smith of New York, were put on the 
committee appointed that day for drafting an Ordinance. 
Later in the day Dr. Cutler had a second conference with 
" the committee," which was probably the Ordinance Com- 
mittee just appointed. He dined on Monday with Dr. 
Rogers, pastor of the new brick Presbyterian church, in 
company with six other clergymen. Knowing from his 
morning interview with the committee what business was 
before Congress, he was nervous, perhaps anxious, and 
left the table hurriedly. " It was with reluctance," he wrote 
in his journal, " that I took leave of this agreeable and social 
company of clergymen ; but my business rendered it neces- 
sary. Attended the committee at Congress Chamber." 

On the morning of Tuesday the loth, he had a third 
conference with the committee, and later dined with Col. 
Duer, in company with Mr. Osgood, President of the Board 
of Treasury, Major Sargent, and several other gentleman. 
The anxiety about business, which caused him to hurry 
away from the dinner-table the day before, had disappeared, 

' Ibid., I., 236. 



1 8 The Early Northwest. 

and well it might, for he had in his pocket the draft of the 
Ordinance which was to be reported to Congress the next 
day, and which the committee had submitted to him for 
amendments. He was happy, and entered with zest upon 
the full enjoyment of the feast. With courteous pleasantry 
he compliments " Lady Kitty," the wife of Col. Duer (who 
was the daughter of Lord Sterling) and comments sportively 
concerning the other guests. " " Col. Duer," he says, " is 
Secretary of the Board of Treasury, and lives in the style of 
a nobleman. I presume he had not less than fifteen sorts 
of wine at dinner and after the cloth was removed ; besides 
most excellent bottled cider, porter, and several kinds of 
strong beer." The good Doctor was deceived by the bottled 
cider with ice in it, " supposing it was a species of liquor I 
had never before tasted." 

These lively comments on the social life in New York at 
the time we could have spared, if he had told us something 
about the business done and conversation held at the three 
conferences with the committee on Monday and Tuesday, 
of which he gives not the least intimation. All business in 
and with Congress was then done in secrecy. It was re- 
garded as a breach of faith to speak or write about matters 
which had not been officially promulgated. 

Immediately following the description of the dinner at 
Col. Duer's house is this paragraph : 

" As Congress was now engaged in settling the form of 
government for the Federal Territory, for which a bill had 
been prepared, and a copy sent to me, with leave to make 
remarks and propose amendments, and which I had taken 
the liberty to remark upon, and to propose several amend- 
ments, I thought this the most favorable opportunity to go 
on to Philadelphia. Accordingly, after I had returned the 
bill with my observations, I set out at seven o'clock, and 
crossed North River to Paulus Hook." * 

Would Dr. Cutler have left for Philadelphia at that time 
if the draft of the Ordinance which had passed through his 
hands had not been satisfactory to him ? and if, knowing 

^ Ibid. I., 242. 



The Early Northwest. 19 

the disposition of the committee and of Congress, he had 
not been confident that it would contain the article prohibit- 
ing slavery ? Mr. Dane, in his letter to Mr. King, said, that 
in reporting the Ordinance to Congress the next day : " I 
omitted the sixth article prohibiting slavery, as only Massa- 
chusetts of the Eastern States was present ; but finding the 
house favorably disposed on the subject, after we had com- 
pleted the other parts, I moved the article, which was 
agreed to without opposition." ' The omission of the 
sixth article, obviously agreed upon in committee, shows 
how little he knew of the temper of Congress, and his lack 
of interest in the subject. It tends to confirm the suspicions 
of him which Dr. Cutler had expressed. On the ground 
that the sixth article of compact was restored to the Ordi- 
nance by his motion on the second reading of the bill, he 
claimed in his later years the whole credit of keeping slavery 
out of the Northwestern States'; and stated that search 
being made for the amendment which included the sixth 
article, it had been found in Mr. Dane's handwriting.' 

In view of its sagacity and foresight, its adaptation for 
the purpose it was to accomplish, and the rapidity with 
which it was carried through Congress, the most reasonable 
explanation, as it seems to me, of the origin of the Ordinance 
is, that it was brought from Massachusetts by Dr. Cutler, 
with its principles and main features developed ; that it was 
laid before the land committee of Congress, on July 9th, as 
a sine qua non in the proposed land purchase ; and that the 
only work of the Ordinance Committee was to put it in a 
form suitable for enactment. The original draft may have 
been made by either of the eminent men who were the 
directors of the Ohio Company — Rufus Putnam, Manasseh 
Cutler, or Samuel Holden Parsons ; but, more likely, was 
their joint production. Dr. Cutler says that on the day he 
left Boston, he met Gen. Putnam, and " settled the principles 
on which I am to contract with Congress for lands, on ac- 

' New York Tribune, Feb. 28, 1855 ; " Life of Dr. Cutler," I., 372. 
"^ Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1867-69, p. 478 ; Dane's Abridg., IX. Ap- 
pendix, p. 76. '^ See Frontispiece. 



20 The Early Northwest. 

count of the Ohio Company." In passing through Middle- 
town, Conn., on his way to New York, he spent one day 
with Gen. Parsons, and says in his journal : " It was nine 
o'clock this morning before Gen. Parsons and I had settled 
all our matters with respect to my business with Congress." 
They were the persons most interested in the enactment of 
such an Ordinance ; and without it their scheme of Western 
settlement would have failed. The New England emigrants 
must feel that they were taking with them to the North- 
west their own laws and institutions. Hence the draft was 
made largely from the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, 
which these settlers had helped to frame. By this Consti- 
tution slavery was abolished, personal rights secured, insti- 
tutions of religion and education fostered, and the most 
advanced principles in the settlement of estates and the 
administration of justice established. Mr. Dane, as the 
Massachusetts member of the committee and most familiar 
with its laws, was the person to whom the duty of writing 
the final draft, and reporting it to Congress, would naturally 
be assigned. 

The formation of a new State in the Northwest by a large 
organized emigration from the East had been a favorite 
project among the people of New England since the peace 
of 1783. Col. Timothy Pickering formulated the details of 
such a scheme. One of its provisions was as follows : 
" That a Constitution for the new State be formed by the 
members of the Association, previous to their beginning the 
settlement ; . . . the total exclusion of slavery from 
the State to form an essential and irrevocable part of 
the Constitution." ' 

On the second topic which I proposed to consider, 
namely: The sources of, and facilities for the study of 
Northwestern history, I will first call attention to the col- 
lection of original documents in the Canadian Archives 
at Ottawa, Canada, under the care of our associate, Mr. 
Brymner, whom we have with us, and who later in our 
sessions will speak to us concerning the collection, 

' " Life of Pickering," I., 548. 



The Early Northwest. 21 

A large portion of these documents relate to the early 
history of the Northwest, then a part of Canada. Some of 
them have been used by Mr. Parkman ; but, as a collection, 
it is little known to writers on Western history. It covers 
the period from the earliest settlement of Canada to recent 
dates, and is especially rich in documents of the last century 
relating to the Northwest, in reference to which our Na- 
tional and State archives are very weak. 

The intelligence with which these documents have been 
collected, arranged, and calendared in print, is most credit- 
able to the Canadian government, and to its accomplished 
archivist. Mr. Brymner has printed ten annual reports, 
comprising twenty-six hundred pages of descriptive lists of 
these documents. 

The " Bouquet Papers," from 1757 to 1765, in thirty vol- 
umes, and the " Haldimand Papers," from 1758 to 1785, in 
232 volumes, are among the most interesting in the collec- 
tion. Col. Henry Bouquet was the ablest and most brilliant 
British commander in the French and Indian war, and the 
hero of the battle of Bushy Run. His life has never been 
written, and here is the material for the work. 

Sir Frederick Haldimand came to America as lieutenant- 
colonel in 1757; was in Amherst's army dt the capture of 
Montreal ; was in the French and Indian war ; had com- 
mand in Florida in 1767; and in June, 1778, succeeded Sir 
Guy Carleton as governor and commander-in-chief of the 
Province of Quebec, which then took in the whole North- 
western Territory. He held the position until November, 
1784. Every thing which occurred in the Northwest during 
his administration appears in reports to, or letters from, 
his head-quarters. His officers at Detroit, St. Josephs, San- 
dusky, Vincennes, 'Michilimacinac, Kaskaskia, and other 
Western posts, reported to him the current news and 
rumors of the day. The papers cover the whole period of 
the Revolutionary war. 

After a custom of the time, which has now happily passed 
away, these invaluable papers were regarded as the private 
property of Gen. Haldimand ; but in 1857 they were pre- 



22 TJie Early Northwest. 

sented by his family to the British Museum. The Canadian 
government has been at the expense of copying, arran- 
ging, and printing a calendared list of them for the use of 
historical students. Our government, when it has made 
suitable provision for its own archives, should show a similar 
enterprise, copy them, and print those which relate to the 
United States, The State of Michigan, in the " Collections 
of the Pioneer Society," has begun the printing of such of 
the Haldimand papers as relate especially to the history of 
that State. The papers printed, however, relate quite as 
much to the whole Northwest as to Michigan. The entire 
collection ought to be printed by the United States gov- 
ernment ; or, if that cannot be done, by joint appropriations 
of all the Northwestern States. 

On February 24, 1779, Gov. Hamilton, of Detroit, as has 
already been stated, surrendered himself prisoner of war to 
Col. George Rogers Clark, with Fort Sackville and its gar- 
rison — a victory which completed the capture of the North- 
western Territory from Great Britain. On that day Col. 
Clark wrote to Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, a de- 
spatch describing his painful winter march across the flooded 
prairies from Kaskaskia, the storming of the fort, and the 
victory. The letter he sent off by a messenger to Williams- 
burg. The messenger was waylaid by Indians and killed, 
and the despatch was supposed to be lost. Two months 
later, when he heard of the killing of his messenger. Col. 
Clark made another report to the governor, from Kaskaskia. 
The first despatch, having been lost for more than a century, 
comes to light in the Haldimand Collection," with nine 
other letters captured at the same time. This precious 
document, giving details of the campaign and surrender 
which are nowhere else to be found, has never been printed ; 
and, so far as I am aware, has never been used, except in a 
brief summary. To which one of the States appertains the 
duty of printing such documents as these? It is clearly the 
duty of the United States. 

' Brymner's Report for 1882, p. 27. 



The Early Nor t Invest. 23 

In the Department of State are many collections of 
public and private papers which would throw much light 
on Northwestern history, and that of the whole country, if 
they were made accessible to historical students. Among 
these are the papers of the old Continental Congress, the 
Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and 
Monroe papers. Several of these collections have been 
bought by the government at a large cost. They are not 
generally arranged nor indexed. Some of the manuscripts 
are decaying, and are so faded as to be almost illegible. 
"The great and unique value of these papers," says the 
present Secretary of State, " and the risk involved in 
exposing them for examination, have been such as to pre- 
clude any arrangement by which ready access to them 
could be granted to all comers ; while the clerical force of 
the Department is inadequate to respond fully to the many 
requests upon it for copies." Appreciating the importance 
of having these papers accessible, the Secretary has issued 
a circular to historical students stating that he had planned 
a scheme for their full and complete publication, and has 
asked for cooperation and support in his application to 
Congress for the means to accomplish it. 

The Secretary of State has not brought his scheme to the 
attention of Congress, and hence we are not informed as to 
its scope and details. Important as is the object mentioned 
by the Secretary, the government should do something 
more. It should establish a separate and permanent " De- 
partment of Archives," or " State Paper Ofifice," such as 
the other great nations possess. The State Department in 
its organization, tenure of office, number and training of its 
employes, and space assigned to it, is not equipped for 
managing a " Department of Archives." The general over- 
sight of such a department would naturally fall to the 
Secretary of State ; but the practical duties must be under 
the charge of trained experts not subject to removal with 
every change of administration. 

The State Department has in its possession many val- 
uable papers ; but, as a collection of National Archives, it is 



24 The Early Northwest. 

very meagre. The establishment of a " Department of 
Archives" would make this fact apparent, and stimulate 
the government to make it more extensive. Secretary 
Frelinghuysen, in commenting on the deficiencies of the 
historical records in the State Department, has said: "The 
inadequacy of the archives in my custody to represent the 
entire history of the establishment of this government has 
been remarked by every distinguished writer or student who 
has had access to them." 

In connection with the papers of the Continental Con- 
gress in the State Department, it may be mentioned as a 
singular fact, as well as embarrassment to historical 
students, that the printed Journals of the Continental 
Congress are not what they purport to be; but are selec- 
tions, made by the old Secretary, Charles Thomson, on 
some capricious and incomprehensible principle, from the 
business done by the old Congress. Legislation on matters 
of the highest importance is as likely to be left out, as that 
on trivial subjects.' There is a chance of finding the miss- 
ing records among the loose Continental papers in the 
State Department ; or in another publication called " Se- 

' The following instances, all relating to a single subject — an Ordinance for 
the Organization of the Northwestern Territory — will show the character of the 
omissions : There is no mention in the Journals of a report made by the grand 
committee of the House on the 24th of March, 1786 ; nor of a report made by 
another committee, of which Mr. Monroe was chairman, on the loth of May, 
1786 ; nor of the appointment of another committee to propose a plan, on the 
19th of September, of which Mr. Johnson, of Connecticut, was chairman ; nor 
of the report of this committee made on the 26th of April, 1787. No mention 
is made in the Journals of the fact that on the gth of July, 1787, another com- 
mittee, of which Mr. Carrington of Virginia was chairman, was appointed to 
prepare an ordinance, who two days later reported the actual Ordinance of 
1787, which was enacted two days still later. The fact that the sixth article of 
compact prohibiting slavery, which had been omitted in reporting the bill, was 
restored on the 12th of July, is omitted. 

Coming down a week later to the Ohio land purchase, the Journals make no 
mention of a bill which Congress passed on July 19th, and \yhich Dr. Cutler re- 
jected ; nor of another bill which Congress passed on July 23d, and was also 
rejected by him. July 27th, still another bill, on terms which Dr. Cutler dictated 
was passed, was accepted by him, and the contract was ratified ; but the Jour- 
nal for that day makes no mention of these facts. As if, however, by an after- 
thought, the matter was inserted in the appendix of the volume. 



The Early Northwest. 25 

cret Journals of Congress " ; or in still another, " Debates 
in the Congress of the Confederation," among the "Thom- 
son Papers," printed in the New York Historical Society's 
Collections, for 1878. It is impossible, from the incom- 
pleteness of the printed Journals of the old Congress, to 
trace thoroughly any matter of public business. "On a day 
when it is known, from other sources, that important 
business was done, the record in the Journals is barely this, 
and nothing more : " Congress assembled ; present as yes- 
terday." A new and revised edition of the Journals of the 
Continental Congress is greatly needed for the historical 
study of that period. The omissions can largely be sup- 
plied from the Continental papers in the State Department, 
and from other sources. 

The several Secretaries of State since 1880 — Mr. Evarts, 
Mr. Frelinghuysen, and Mr, Bayard — have called the atten- 
tion of Congress to the fact that the public and private 
archives of Europe contain manuscripts of the highest 
interest to our country, of which no copies, calendars, or 
descriptive catalogues have ever been made. It is also 
well known that Mr. B. F. Stevens, an American, and officer 
of the State Department, residing in London, has for many 
years been engaged in searching the archives of Great 
Britain, France, Holland, and Spain, by special favor 
of their custodians — granted by reason of his official re- 
lations with our State Department — has made an index 
and descriptive calendar, and in many instances facsimile 
transcripts, of more than one hundred thousand documents 
relating to American history. They are chiefly between 
the dates of the treaty of Paris, in 1763, and the treaty 
between Great Britain and the United States, in 1783 — the 
interesting period of our country's evolution from colonial 
dependence to State and National sovereignty. Every 
Secretary of State has warmly approved the work of Mr. 
Stevens, and has recommended that Congress make a suit- 
able appropriation for the publication of calendared indexes 
or full transcripts of these hitherto inaccessible documents. 



26 The Early Northwest. 

Nearly every historical society in the land, and many emi- 
nent individuals, have memorialized Congress for the same 
object. The Joint Committee on the Library, to whom 
the matter was referred in the second session of the 49th 
Congress, unanimously reported such a bill ; and if it could 
have been*reached in the pressure of business at the close 
of the session, it undoubtedly would have passed. The 
Joint Committee in their report to Congress said : " Re- 
strictions upon the access to, and use of, most of this 
material are so rigorous, and the expense is so great, that 
hitherto only few and fragmentary portions of it have been 
copied, or otherwise made available for historic or even 
diplomatic use." 

Mr. Stevens is still pursuing the work, and is maintaining 
at his own expense a well-trained staff of assistants and 
translators who are skilled in the obscure handwriting of 
old French, Dutch, and Spanish manuscripts. For this 
outlay of time and money he has had no other remunera- 
tion than the appreciating and friendly sympathy of the 
State Department and the gratitude of American students 
of history. 

In the absence of an appropriation from Congress, he 
now proposes to issue to subscribers a limited edition of 
facsimile transcripts of the more important documents in 
photo-lithography, with an English translation when the 
document originated in another language. A great govern- 
ment like ours should not require the students of its own 
history to supply themselves with this material at private 
expense. Something of the enterprise of the Canadian 
government should animate, the Congress of the United 
States in the establishment and support of a " Department 
of Archives " which will be worthy of this Nation. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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